the devil is in the detail

It's all about the surface, the painting's fractured surface, the myriad textures of surfaces, the light-reflecting surface of matter... the tiny crevices and small fissures, the incidental, the accidental, balancing control with chance, new and yet ancient history, of seismic ground shifts, the earth shivers... tremours, vibrations, eruptions... the surge of the river, at the cliff's edge, a deluge, the crackle and rumble of quakes, the crater of the volcano, ice floes, a ravine, a chasm, a trip into the mind's abyss, the antithesis of a measured, cautious approach, no aesthetic geometry, no visual maps, no colourist's happy vision, a landscape indelibly flawed, it rides on relentless, roughshod, oblivious to your ideals of a painterly perfection.....corros; corrosive, corroding, caustic, abrasive, abraded...meld; misted, damp smoke, ice, molten ash, ashen, brittle, dissolved...marsh; mire, moisture diffused, saturated, sodden ground, damping down all sound...fyre; char and burn, molten, blackened, all liquefied...voda; clear water over rocks, glistening, rippled, furrowed, crystallinesalt tracescosta; at the water's edge, soft sand sleeps, then seepage, a slow escape into the sea...haze; the strange grey dust of the metallic city, visible, invisible, noxious, politely polluted...rost; the fire and the fury, the gnawing noise of rust...fenn; of peat, secret life of soil, a layered bed of moss, quietly decomposing...mist; of vapour, liquorice fields breathe under a frozen lilac sky......Just a reminder that the exhibition of these paintings is still on at Centrepoint in London until January 13, 2009; for visitor info email or visit the Targetfollow website......

ten edgescapes, london

A couple of shots of the installation of my work at Centrepoint in London - the exhibition is on until January 13, 2009; for visitor info email or visit the Targetfollow website...Edgescapes: Mire (aka marsh), Corros and Costa...Edgescapes: Fyre, Fenn and Rost...Ten Edgescapes (including Meld, Haze, Voda and Mist...)

In the zone

All ten of my newest large paintings are now on show at Centrepoint Tower in London...My work is in the zone, the central zone, zone one in fact. I wasn't present for the installation so exhibition photographs will follow shortly... If you are tempted to know a little bit more about these paintings, receive an exhibition flyer and perhaps plan a visit then contact me at:and I can add you to the snail mail or email mailing list; or you can email or visit the TargetfollowArts website for more visitor information.I've been thinking lately about the zone, that special place in which creativity flows effortlessly, away from the mundane tittle-tattle and chores of life... the hours seem to pass more slowly, work progresses, with some surprises which fuel further activity. I need at least a day to get into the zone. I find it much easier when i set myself a time-limited task (such as the one hundred paintings). It is much more difficult when I have various works on the go, all at different stages, trying to bring them into unison, orchestrating a harmony; they fight for attention, argue, clash.Surrounded by the tools of art, its materials, the nurturing of ideas, the outside inspiration, is vital for motivation, but beware the occasional cacophony! I find that music helps to focus, especially when it is a familiar genre but not played in the same order (the random play of an ipod shuffle).. or even the thoughts sparked by those little philosophical insights or random facts you inevitably pick up from listening to BBC Radio 4.Artists are naturally a curious, perhaps fickle breed, making things never making do. There is nothing unusual in working overtime if the work seems to demand it, you both lead and follow in the making of art...The payback? Uncertainty? Unpredictability? Read that as the element of surprise, conjecture, faith, the joyful spirit of enquiry.. And to those who deride it, dismiss it as folly? Well, some are just driven to go travelling artistically speaking, whereas others have no inclination or insight to do so.. early negativity or apathy towards the arts often sets those limited boundaries for life... but art would never work as a nine-to-five, clock in-and-out job, what should to be done, how many and by when.Artists need the freedom to explore ideas, analyse things and experiment with the visual... the zone, when you find it, is really quite precious... but I can't tell you where to find it (it's a relative place, not an absolute location), as someone quite wise once said (Alfred Korzybski), the map is not the territory...